Sword Art Online: Unknown Mode
by ThousandMastery
Summary: Watch as the epic story of both Emiya Shirou and Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito) in the Virtual MMORPG world of Sword Art Online. This is the serious scenario...er or not. *Edited for you script haters* (Written by Procrastination God)
1. Ch 1: Prologue

**Sword Art Online: The True Game of Death**

Author's Note: This may skip but a few scenes, but Kirito (Kirigaya Kazuto) will still be in this crossover Fanfiction. This story will tell the story of both Emiya Shirou and Kirigaya Kazuto in the combined world of both Sword Art Online and Fate/Stay Night. This is non-canon, but whatever. Anyways, start!

Edit: Rewritten just because I can. And the story actually is layed out correctly. Please note that was a prototype (then again, this was my first story that I have ever written in my life)

This is the serious scenario of SAO.

Year 202X. Today the first RPG of the world's newest gaming equipment, NerveGear comes out, Sword Art Online.

**Prequel: Emiya Shirou**

"He went that way!"

A black haired master in his mid-20s starts looking around in my direction with his servant, Rider

"Ugh... first thing that happens is a 6th Holy Grail war, and now this!?"

Emiya sighs.

I had been contacted by Tohsaka Rin earlier this morning and what goes on in the world!? Another Holy Grail war.

Like I didn't have enough problems in saving people.

How did they even manage to make another Holy Grail in the first place?

I briefly reminiscence the fact that Saber had destroyed the Holy Grail in the 5th war.

"Is that even possible..."

"There he is!"

The black haired girl yells to pinpoint my location.

"Tch. They saw me..."

I start running from them. These guys are apparently the ones running this "New" Holy Grail war, and the participants were gunning after me, since the supervisor over the war from the Council of Mages had announced 'Free command spells to those who ever brings me Emiya Shirou alive!'

To make things worse, 3 masters teamed up against me in a truce for more command spells.

The servant, Saber appears in front of me.

"Gah!"

"You're not getting away!" the fat man holding a sword yells.

I start running the other way towards the stairs to the 2nd floor, but...

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

The 2nd floor was full of beasts and monsters summoned by Rider.

I decide the best course of action was to reinforce my legs and jump out the window.

"Heh, we've got you now!"

A voice comes from the open window.

"What!?"

A magic circle appears beneath me, most likely made from that Caster standing behind me, and holds on to me so tightly that even if I did reinforce my whole body, I couldn't even twitch a finger. Only my head could move.

"Damn it..."

"Now you can't run away anymore..."

The blonde bishounen (pretty boy) looking master smirks at me with a smug attitude.

I didn't like his attitude, and he killed a lot of people just for prana to fuel his servant, so I spit at him.

"How dare you... Kill him, Caster!" He angrily orders his servant.

"But master, you specifically ordered me to keep him alive."

"I don't care!"

Crap. Am I going to die here...?

"Should I override this previous order then?"

"Did. I. F***ing. Stutter!?"

"No master... But if I do as you wish the other masters you have allied with will all turn on you! Even I am still not enough to handle two servants at once without at least another command spell."

"Tch!"

He clicks his tongue.

"That would be bad. Fine, leave that man alive... however do not leave him unpunished for disrespecting your master."

"As you command, master."

Caster Glares at me with a terrifying look, sending a chill up my spine.

"Uhh..."

"HEHEHEHEHE..."

And so for the next hour my body was tortured by Caster until the other 2 masters were done doing whatever that took an hour to get here with the supervisor.

"You look pathetic, Emiya Shirou."

The balding man with blonde hair in the attire similar to the old priest I knew, Kotomine Kirei, taunts me.

"You three, bring him to my church, and I will commence giving all 3 of you extra command spells."

"You bastard... who the heck do you thi-"

His face is a blur... I begin to black out after all, taking all that torture from Caster.

"Ugh..."

**Prequel: Kirigaya Kazuto**

It's 1 pm.

Suguha has just left the house for her club.

After looking over the reviews and information on the first MMORPG for the new gaming console online, I decide to finally play Sword Art Online.

"Now would be the best time to play it… while everyone is still at school."

This meant less competition over hunting maps, a prime time for any gamer.

Both my mother and Suguha no longer here to interfere with my gaming (previous experience from the beta test) makes it even better after her unplugging the NerveGear off my head several times, I had decided to wait until she left.

"Great, now let's go, old pal."

I put on the NerveGear once more.

"Link... Start!"

I log in the game once more, using my beta character data. This was only a test character anyway, and this would save me a lot of time so I can finalize my character with as much knowledge I can in the game.

"...Looks like I'm back in this world…"

A smile is all I could show for my excitement, as hundreds of characters were already appearing behind and in front of me.

(...I'd better leave before they all follow me… I need a good spot to train myself to a level higher first after all.)

I start running into the alleyway

"Hey, you there!"

A random voice stops my movements.

I stop.

(This is bad… If someone follows me to the good hunting spots, chances are it'll be harder to level up.)

The man catches up to me.


	2. Ch 2: Town of New Beginnings

**Sword Art Online: Unknown Mode**

Author's Note: I'd figure most people wouldn't know much about F/SN. If you want to know more, look up the anime, the movie and fate/zero. Type-moon Wiki works much better (if you prefer reading).

**Intermission: Emiya Shirou... but where?...**

"Ugh... where... am I?"

(I can't see a thing. It's all pitch black.)

"You're awake, Emiya Shirou."

"Where are you!? Answer me!"

(I can't move my body. I can't feel anything either.)

"Calm down, Emiya Shirou. I, the great am about to give you another chance at life."

A voice comes from all of my surroundings.

"Huh?"

I ask out of confusion.

"Interfering with our war... that is no good for one who has already participated in the Holy Grail War once. And you have even destroyed the Holy Grail itself before. That is a rather troublesome fact... It took many mages to help the Einzberns make another one. And as a result, even after the Grail being dismantled, it took 10 years to finally build a new one. It's a bit... incomplete, if you compare it to the ones from the previous wars."

"But people will die because of this! How can you do this!?"

(I've got to get out of here!)

I try to break out, but no luck.

"It's a shame, but my mission is to keep you locked up."

"Damn it."

"Tell you what. I'll at least free you of boredom. I am a merciful servant of god after all"

I can't do anything right now.

"Don't worry Emiya... It's a game with actual people. The newest game with the best graphics and such!"

(A game huh.)

"Best of all, **you can't move and will be stuck in a coma until you beat this game! What's more, you can do your beloved hobby, 'saving people' and being a so called 'ally of justice' you so love!"  
**

W-wait, what did he say!?

"Heheheheh... HAHAHAHA!"

"Hey, Wait!"

His laughter gets quieter and quieter.

(It seems he left)

"Tch! Looks like I didn't have a choice in the first place."

I start registering an account enraged to start off my escape.

**Intermission: Floor 1: Town of Beginnings**

"You were in the beta test, weren't you?"

The handsome man wearing the bandana on his forehead asks.

He didn't seem to have any ill intent, so I answer him.

"Oh, uh, yeah.

"Can you show me the basics of this game? PLEASE?"

(Should I really do as h-)

"The name's Klein, nice to meet you!"

(...He cut me off... )

That's a new way of asking a favor.

"..."

I stand dumbfounded for a second, but...

(Hmph, I'll show you what I've got, pretty boy!)

I strike up a cool pose with my right hand on my hip and went with it with a smile.

"I'm Kirito."

We start moving towards the West Field of the Town of Beginnings.

"Looks like someone's already here..."

"Don't mind that. There's bound to be a player or 2 in every field, after all there is only one channel in the whole server of Sword Art Online."

"That's true, but what if he learns our secret techniques!"

"These are the basics which anybody can learn, remember? So just focus on what we're doing here!"

"Oh yeah..."

After watching Klein getting beaten into a pulp for several minutes, I give him a few pointers on the game's battle system.

Of course, the one other player in a cloak was looking around in his menu was also listening in my advice.

"All right!"

I congratulate Klein and give him a high-five for his first victory in Sword Art Online (killing a boar).

"Although you won... the monster was only a random mob."

"You're kidding right? I thought that was some mid-level boss or something!"

"..."

The cloaked man gives a dumbfounded face. (judging from his body size)

"Of course not. If it was that easy, we'd clear the game in the beta already!"

I laugh while staring at the other player at the field while Klein plays around with his sword skills.

"That's about the basics. Got any more questions?"

"There's lots of skills right? Like blacksmithing and stuff?"

"Yeah, I heard that there are an unlimited number of skills, and you can even register your own if it's not in the system. In exchange, there is no such thing as magic in the game system."

"An RPG without magic? That's a rather strange type of a game."

"Isn't it more fun to move your body while you fight though rather than standing still?"

"You're right about that!"

...

I stare across the hills.

"Alright, let's head to the next one!"

"Yeah! Let's keep going until the end!"

The unknown player gets up and starts following us.

"?"

I glance at him for a moment.

"Don't mind him too much, remember?"

Klein reminds me.

"Did you just make me eat my words..."

"heh..."

The cloaked player snickers.

So the 2 of us (3, including the player following us) hit the road until we ran into a dead end that we couldn't cross.

"I just can't believe it, no matter how many times I see it, that we're inside a game. Whoever made this has to be a genius."

(But of course, thank Kayaba Akihiko for making this game! He is the messiah of games for the decade! How could you not know him!?)

I sigh.

"It's so amazing... I'm so glad I was born in this era!"

Klein says as his eyes sparkle.

"You sure make a big deal out of everything." (Is that a new part of the game system?)

"Ahh, but, this is my first full dive ever, you know?"

"So this is your first time playing a game with NerveGear?"

"NerveGear huh? What's that I wonder..."

The cloaked man says silently (I can kinda hear him)

"I just bought the console as soon as I got a copy of the 10,000 copies of Sword Art Online, you know. I was really lucky, you know? But you on the other hand, was 10 times as lucky as I was, I mean, you got a copy of **THE** beta test!"

"Well, yeah."

"Just how far did you get in the beta anyway?"

"Well, I played for a few months, so only up until the 8th floor. I died a lot though, since most didn't even know how to play."

I ended up soloing the first boss, and it was just TERRIBLE.

"This time it'll probably take a Month at most."

Klein gives me a face of contempt.

"Y-you're really into this huh?"

"To tell you the truth, during the beta test, all I thought about was Sword Art Online all day and all night long."

I pull out my sword from my sheathe. (TO LOOK COOL OF COURSE!)

"In this world... It takes only a single blade to take you anywhere you want to go."

I smile at the thought, reminiscing my gameplay.

"Huh..."

The cloaked man speaks out of surpise, but I ignore him and continue my awesome speech.

"Even though this is a virtual world, I feel like I'm more alive in this one than in the real world."

I sheathe my sword.

"Now then, want to hunt some more?"

I wink at Klein.

"Of course!... I'd love to but... I'm starving... I'm logging out."

"Eating food here only makes you think you're not hungry, after all. (It's great for dieting!)

"I already ordered pizza for 5:30!"

That bastard. I want some pizza too... But that would obviously ruin my diet. (mom doesn't let me)

"Wow, you're a pretty prepared gamer. I'm impressed."

I sigh at the thought of jealousy (I WANT PIZZA TOO!).

"Of course! After I'm done eating, I'll be back."

(I'm getting more and more disinterested. I really am a solo type player.)

"I see..."

I look out to the red sky.

"Hey, after this, I'm going to hang out with some friends I know from another game. How about it? Want to friend them too?"

"Eh...?"

I was never good at hanging out with people. Most of the time, even in games I was socially awkward throughout my life.

"Of course, if you don't want to, that's fine. I'll just introduce you some other time."

"Yeah, my bad... but thanks."

"Come on, it's not your fault. I'll have to repay you for this later... Mentally."

"...What the...?"

...The strange man is still there.

"Sigh"

I'm really not fond of stalkers.


	3. Ch 3: Playtime is over

Author: Sigh, after not being able to save it, I have to rewrite the chapter all over again. At least this time I changed some lines, but perspective will still be 1st person for Kirito until a certain part of the story. I finished episode 1 at long last, now for episode 1.5 that is exclusive only found in the Light Novels (Material Edition, thank you Baka-Tsuki!). It will be a bit short though.

Thank god this website auto-saves while typing.

**Meanwhile: At the Abandoned School**

"Geez, where the heck are we anyways?"

The middle-schooler complains as she walks down the hallway.

"This is probably where they keep everyone who try to interfere with their plans. Kayaba Akihiko really planned this through."

The twintailed woman in her late thir-

"...Step out for one second."

Narrator: Huh? Wait, what!?

...

**THE TWINTAILED LADY IN HER EARLY TWENTIES COMMENTS HER QUESTION.**

"I'm pooped… How many rooms do we have to go through until we finally get there!? First that mob of golems, now this?"

"Until we find our target, Emiya Shirou and rescue him"

"But everyone looks the same with that helmet on!"

"Well, him having only short white hair makes it hard for us to find him from a distance. But if we stick together, we'll find him in no time, right friend?"

**THE YOUNG LADY REPLIES.**

"There's like 300 people here! And then we have to carry him back home with that helmet still on, while avoiding servants? Are you insane?!"

"Who's there!?"

The man in robes shouts.

(Shoot! Hide!)

"Ee-*mphll…*"

She silently moves her 'friend' away from Caster's view.

"…Just my imagination then."

Caster slowly walks away.

"If you remember how I told you they were so much stronger than normal people then you'd better keep quiet before we're caught, got it?"

"Mmgm. (okay)"

Her junior high friend complies.

"*Sigh* I wish I could just blow this place into smithereens. Then we could just look for the bodies."

"They'll probably die…"

"Ugh… if his powers weren't sealed I would just nuke the place and sacrifice everyone else just to get him out. But he would hate me if I tried that. (he'd block it)"

"Oh, is that him?!"

Her friend in the school uniform points at the body.

"Finally. He better not be dead… or a zombie."

"Let's get him out of there already and just go home! This place looks like a ghost mansion!"

"Who's there!?"

An irritating voice comes out from the halls.

"Shoot, can't avoid this huh… Looks like it's time for plan S."

"And that is…?"

She pushes her out the room towards the fat servant.

"Eh."

She gets up.

"Found you! Ohh, a shoujo! *slurp*" (young virgin girl)

Suguha starts running.

"EEEEK! HENTAI!" (Pervert)

The fat man in armor holding his steel sword chases after her.

"Come back here! I won't hurt you!"

"LIAR!"

She starts running even faster.

"Plan Scapegoat… Good luck my friend."

Rin whispers silently.

"I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND!" -(Yelling from down the hallway)

"You're not getting away!"

Saber chases her down the hallway.

"Now all I have to do is get this guy out of here and we're in for the clear… Thinking of you owing me your life isn't that bad."

He pulls out the plugs and pushes Emiya out the window, following him jumping down as well.

"Wait! Let me on too!"

A voice shouts from the corner of the building.

"How the heck did you escape Saber? Even if he's fat, he's still an Heroic Spirit!"

She asks surprised by the fact.

"I didn't! He's right behind me!"

She starts running even faster and jumps in the truck of the car.

"So there was another one of you eh!?"

The fat plate-armored man shouts.

"Cmon, drive!"

Rin steps on the gas on full throttle.

"Uhh, uhm...Take this!"

She throws a strange looking dagger she found in the glove department at Saber.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

Saber gets shot by the strange beam of light.

"Alright!"

"Ooh! Great job!"

She high-fives her.

"But what did you throw at Saber anyway, Suguha?"

"That weird looking dagger in your glove department, Rin! Aren't I great!? I didn't know I could do that!"

Suguha smiles at her great success.

"…"

Rin is frozen stiff.

"Y-Y-YOU THREW AWAY THE JEWELED SWORD OF ZELRETCH!?" (Epic dagger, google it.)

She suddenly brakes the car.

"Eh, but Rin what if-"

"GIVE ME BACK MY FAMILY HEIRLOOM! YOUR LIFE ISN'T WORTH THAT LEGENDARY TREASURE!"

"E-ehh!? Can't Emiya just make another one for you? With that 'Tracing' you talked about earlier?"

"…Fine. He'd better make another one for me since I saved his butt. And he owes me another favor."

"YOU'RE*pant* NOT*pant*GETTING*pant*AWAY...*pant*"

"Geh. Oh crap!"

Rin steps on the gas pedal once more, and Saber is covered in smoke.

"*Cough-cough* Damn…*pant* they *pant* got away..."

"So Rin, where to now?"

"First let's see if we can get him off that helmet first, if not we go to the hospital, that way we might be able to do something. Then we're done. We can't really take care of him after all."

Rin breaks the speed limit, drifting on every curve she met.

**Author note: **

Don't try this kids, otherwise you'll die a painful death by a fat man (Saber).

Also, how in the world did that fat guy manage to become a heroic spirit in the first place? and even become a Saber?

Only just because he has a sword!?

Well, the world is still full of mysteries.

Now, back to Kirito! (Kirigaya Kazuto)

**Intermission: Meanwhile in the game…**

"Hey, I can't log out!"

The handsome player complains.

"Haha, there's no way. It should be there at the bottom of the men-"

I open the menu and as a surpise…

"See, it's not there."

"...Yeah, it's not."

"Hey! You! Stalker-kun!"

Klein yells.

"*Sigh*...What did you want?"

The mysterious man gets up.

(A man with pure white hair and grey eyes? That's some outdated fashion.)

"Stalker-san, can you find the log-"

"I'm not a stalker-san. It's Emiya. You notice now? 4 hours later?"

"So you were stalk-"

"AH! MY PIZZA! It's 5:25 right now!"

Klein cuts me off.

"Anyway, this wasn't an accident."

"Huh?"

The two of us ask at the same time.

"H-how can you be so sure?"

"You said were a beta-tester right? Then you must've seen the logout button before during the beta."

The man says as he's talking to someone stupid.

"...As I thought, you really are a sta-"

Klein cuts me off once more.

"But I thought there would still be a few bugs if the game was just released officially 1 day out of the beta?"

"...No, he's right. Even if the server was overloaded, the button would still show, otherwise the menu wouldn't even come up from lag… But why?"

I ask myself this question.

"Hey, isn't there any other way to log out?"

Klein complains.

"*Sigh... If there was I'd be long gone by now and making my escape..." -(doesn't know about his real body)

He says quietly.

"No… If a player wants to log out, they have to go through their menu and log themselves out. Otherwise they'd have to get GMs to log us out."

I explain after wondering but getting no solution.

"No way, there's got to be another way!"

In denial, Klein starts doing weird poses shouting "Escape! Leave! Log Out! Return!"

"Hey, what can these 'GMs' do?"

The man asks us.

"They can log us out by force, but nobody is answering."

I answer him.

"No way… why?"

Klein looks down in despair.

"There wasn't an emergency logout in the manual either."

"...Manual?"

The man asks as if he'd just ignored it and went straight to playing the game.

"You've got to be kidding. Oh, I know! If I just rip off the NerveGear off my head…"

Klein starts trying to pull his head off.

"...What are you doing? Another weird dance?"

Klein gives up.

"You can't. Well, we can't move our real bodies, since the NerveGear intercepts all brain signals that we send to our bodies and receives it instead."

"...That's the reason why I couldn't move at all huh?"

Emiya asks and was ignored as we stare at him asking a stupid question.

"So, we just have to wait until they fix the bug?"

"Yeah, or if someone from the real world to take it off our heads, like my family."

"But I live alone. How about you two?"

"I'm the same as you."

"I live with mother and my little sister, so they'll probably notice by dinnertime…"

Klein charges at me, grabbing onto me.

"H-how old is your sister?"

He asks me breathing heavily.

"S-she's a sports team, and she hates games so she has nothing to do with people like us… GET OFF ME!"

"Don't be like th- Goh!"

Emiya chopped Klein in the neck while I kicked him in the crotch, making Klein do a backwards somersault. (he landed holding his crotch)

"Oh right, it doesn't hurt."

Klein lets go of his crotch and gets up.

"Now..."

Emiya puts both his hands on my shoulders.

"Huh?"

"How old is your little si-"

I punch him, but he dodges it unlike Klein.

"You're in this joke too!?"

"I was asking seriously though…"

Klein smiles.

...

Emiya looks at the setting sun.

"By the way, haven't you two noticed something?"

"Well, of course it's weird. It's a bug you know."

Klein sighs.

"It's not just a bug. If we can't log out, then that will be a big problem for the game's future."

"Well if you think about it, yeah."

"If they wanted to, they could just log out everyone by shutting down the server. To think there isn't even an announcement is as if…"

"I said it before, it's as if it's not an accident, but done on purpose, right?"

Our eyes widen. But there's no way. Not even a millionth of a chance that they would pull something like that, I wouldn't believe it even if Kayaba Akihiko himself comes down here and tells us that it's true.

A bell rings. But where?

"!"

At that moment, the entire server speeds up, and a light envelopes all of us.

"A forced teleport?"

In my experience, this only happened twice.

People appear everywhere from the forced teleport.

"...We're back at the plaza where we arrived at when we first logged in."

The bell stops ringing, and people stop appearing from the light.

In the chattering, a player nearby in the plaza shouts "Ah, above."

A red fragment floats in the sky.

"...What's that?"

This never happened in the beta test.

"...Don't know. I'm getting bad vibes though."

A red barrier surrounds the whole plaza containing all the players, and a red liquid seeps through it, forming something.

"What the hell is that?"

The crowd starts panicking.

"Keep quiet. You'll find out soon enough."

"**Players, welcome to my world."**

"My world?"

"So he must be behind all this."

I glare at Emiya.

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

**"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the only human who can control this world."**

"This is a pretty sick introduction if you ask me."

Emiya smirks.

**"You players must've already noticed that the main menu has the logout button missing. Worry not, this is not an error in the game. I'll say it once more. It's not an error in the game, but an original feature of Sword Art Online."**

"Not an error in the game, huh."

Emiya glares at the large avatar as he gives a "I knew it" look.

"...A feature?"

**"Everyone cannot log out from the game by themselves. Also, everyone in the outside world cannot remove or shut down the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the NerveGear will activate the transmitter inside, which acts as a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and ending your life in both the game and in reality."**

The crowd denies this fact that it's reality.

"W-what's he talking about, he must be nuts in the head, right guys?"

Klein asks in fear.

"...About the transmitter in the NerveGear working like a microwave is true. Should the safety be removed, it'll be enough to fry a human brain."

"W-what if we cut off the power?"

"No, the NerveGear has an internal batter inside it."

"Geh."

Klein shakes his head in denial.

"But this is reckless! What's up with this?!"

"A death game or perhaps something similar to it. Either way, you'll have to live with it whether everyone likes it or not."

Emiya glances at us.

"…"

He's right. It doesn't take any brains to figure something like this out.

**"Unfortunately, several players' family members and friends ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. In result, 213 players are no longer found in both Aincrad and the real world.**

"213!?"

(That's!)

"Damn. That was awfully fast."

Emiya clicks his tongue.

"…Don't believe… I won't believe it!"

Klein shouts in denial.

**"As you can see, the news has arrived all over the world are reporting all of this, including their deaths. Now, you can assume that the danger of the NerveGear being removed has been minimized now. Players, I hope you will be at ease and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly, there was never any method to revive someone from the game in the first place. If your Hit Points drop to 0, the player's avatar will be eternally lost, and likewise, will destroy your brain."**

(…No! If it hits 0 then… I can't even imagine that happening!)

The crowd of players listen to his speech in silence.

**"Your means of escape is only but one: To clear the game. At the moment, everyone is at the lowest floor of Aincrad; Floor number 1. If you make it through the Floor's dungeon, and defeat the Floor Boss, you will advance to the next Floor. Defeat the 100****th**** Floor Boss, and you clear the game."**

"Clear all 100 floors? Of course that's impossible! Even the Beta Testers never even made it close to that high!"

Klein shouts knowing this fact.

"Even if it is impossible, we still have to do it."

Emiya's words bring us back to reality.

**"And finally, players, I have placed a present into your inventories. See for yourselves."**

Everyone starts opening their menus to the inventory. The item name [Mirror] pops up.

(A hand mirror?)

"What does this do?"

Everyone presses the Use button, and a mirror appears.

"Huh? Whoooaaaaa-"

Seperate lights coming from each player envelopes everybody.

"Whooooaaaaa!"

All the players shriek in fear.

"Man it's bright!"

Emiya, enveloped by the light still laughs.

The lights finally lifts, clearing our vision.

"You alright, Kirito?"

"Uh, yeah…"

A strange figure wearing a familiar bandana on his forehead appears in front of me.

"...Who are you?"

I look in the mirror once more.

"Yeah, where is Kirito and Klein anyway? I swear they were standing right here a second ago…"

Emiya says sarcastically.

"I'm right here, Emiya…"

We look at each other.

"Wait then that means… You're Klein!?"

"Wait then that means… You're Kirito!?"

"Everyone looks different huh."

"But why?"

Klein ponders this fact.

"And why in Aincrad do you look the same, Emiya? You don't look any different."

"Because I actually looked like this?"

He gives confident smile.

(I remember...)

"That scan…"

"Scan?"

Emiya glares at me.

Ignoring this, I explain.

"The NerveGear covers your head with a high-density signaling device to interfere with your brain waves… so it can see what your face looks like… but what about the body mass and height?"

"When we started up the NerveGear for the first time, it had to calibrate right? So we touched our bodies all over."

"O-oh, right. That must've been when it got the data."

"But… but you know… what was it? Why did they do this in the first place?"

Klein starts wondering off once more.

"I couldn't say. That guy would probably tell all of us right about now... but what the hell did they do to my body.."

Emiya says as if he doesn't look like that appearance of chestnut-colored hair.

"?"

"**Everyone, you're all probably wondering, 'Why.' Why would the creater of Sword Art Online and the developer of the NerveGear, Kayaba Akihiko do something like this? Well, my goal has already been achieved, I created Sword Art Online for 1 reason… To create this world, and observe it. This is the reason why I made Sword Art Online."**

"Kayaba…"

(You're not making any sense...)

"You!"

Emiya throws his beginner's sword at the gigantic cloaked avatar of Kayaba Akihiko, but only the system message pops up.

[Immortal Object]

Emiya is unnoticed and the gaint Kayaba Akihiko continues his speech.

"Tch… Looks like I'm quite the powerless one here huh…"

**"And right now, it has been completed. This now ends the Official Launch's Tutorial Services of Sword Art Online. Good luck to all you players."**

He finally ends his speech, and the gaint avatar dissolves into the red liquid once more, back into the red barrier, which is lifted.

Everyone gapes in silence after the man known as Kayaba Akihiko had finished his speech, and then…

Author Note: And so Kirito loses sight of his idol's reasoning and despairs himself for a while with his detective Conan lines after dragging them out of the plaza into the dark alley and asking our guest and Klein to elope with him or something. (too lazy to take up all the lines from the anime so I'll just skip this to save time for everyone)

"So, are we going to do it here or what?"

Klein jokes around but gets ignored.

"The resources for a VMMORPG are limited, so the EXP and Gold we can gain are limited. The fields around the Town of Beginnings will be hunted clean soon. If we want to get as strong as possible quickly, we should head to the next village right now, since I know all the roads we can get there as fast as possible even at level 1."

Klein gives a sigh.

"But… but you know… my friends from the other game waited the whole night with me just to buy this. They're all at the plaza. They need me, Kirito, I just can't leave them alone. Sorry, but I can't ask any more of you, can I? So don't worry about it and just head to the next village."

"Well what about you Emiya?"

"…Sorry but you'll have to go alone. I'm going back to the plaza to see if I can get people to follow me."

Accepting this fact I...

"...Then we'll say our goodbyes here. If something happens, message me."

"All right."

"You got it."

After I added both of them to my friend's list, Emiya starts walking out the alley..

"Goodbye… You guys."

I turn away and start walking for a moment…

"Kirito! Uh… Hey… Kirito. You were actually pretty cute…"

...What?

Narrator: This better not turn into a Yaoi. It's starting to get old.

Author: WELL TOO BAD!

"You're my kind of type!"

As our hero Kirito is confessed, our hero's eyes start sparkling.

"K-klein, I..."

The next second, Emiya comes at full speed and jump kicks Klein's head into the wall.

"Took you long enough. I thought you guys were done with joking around."

"I was, I'm not sure if this guy was serious again or not. I got a shiver from him for some reason, so I came back."

Emiya starts dragging Klein's body back to the plaza.

"Heh…"

I run for a few steps, and look back.

Emiya is still dragging Klein.


	4. Ch 4: Emiya and The Army

**Author's Note:**

I can't really make anything much out of the side story.

In fact, I'm pretty lazy so I'll just make a summary instead.

**Emiya Shirou: Still at the Plaza**

Meanwhile Emiya was trying to calm down everyone who was left at the plaza, and convince everyone that what announcement said just now was true. However many still would not believe in Emiya. There was no medicine for stupidity after all, and as majority ended up criticizing him, he was isolated from everybody he tried to inform.

-2 weeks after the game began, November 15th 2022-

"...What the hell am I doing..."

Emiya has no charisma whatsoever after all.

"Um... excuse me, Emiya-san?"

I turn around to meet the unknown guest behind me.

A man with weird spiky red hair. You could say he looks like a typical barbarian I've dealt with in the past.

"...What do you want from me? Or have you come to criticize me too?"

(This should set him off before he gets involved with me)

"No, I am here to thank you in place of our guild master. With your efforts, we have successfully established the first guild in [Sword Art Online], [The Army].

...What the hell is this.

"...The Army?"

"Yes, and as our thanks of appreciation, how about joining us? We'll make you a high-ranking officer for contributing and setting this up for us."

"...It's not like I did it for you guys or anything."

"Is that so..."

The red hair man starts to turn away.

(...What am I doing... This is my chance, right?)

"...I'll see what your guild does for now, and I might consider it, lackey."

But he still continues to walk away.

(Wait, what!?)

"H-hold on! All right, I'll join!"

"Thank you for your consideration. My name is Kibaou, 1st lieutenant of The Army. Follow me"

I see an angry but smiling face from him, but I still follow Kibaou.

...

"This is…"

So many men in armor, hunting the fields and distributing items to random players at the town.

"How is it? It's volunteer work, but this means that we can clear the game much faster when we have more recuits."

I shake my head.

"No, you guys don't need me. You are already doing just fine, I just hope you guys will continue like this forever; that way the guild will thrive of prosperity forever."

"Are you sure? I think you'd be a higher ranking guild member, probably higher than I am."

"…"

If I do that, then…

"Alright, I'll join your guild but I have a condition."

"Oh! You will? Alright then, tell me what that is!"

"Let me leave the guild whenever I want. I don't want to be a burden, and I don't want to be a bother either."

"…That's not even a condition. Everyone who joins a guild can leave if they want to. If it comes down to that, our leader'll take care of that."

Kibaou laughs.

"Oh… hahaha…"

...

**Short Story: Kirito's Side**

Meanwhile, Kirito was getting a new sword, leveling up, almost getting killed, getting an awful lot of imouto references from the game's NPCs and stuff in the next town. Klein? He's still looking around for his friend from the other game. Who knows when they'll meet up with our heroes? He ditched his initial plan of finding him and went after Kirito a while later to the same village. But back to Kirito.

-1 after the game began, November 8th 2022-

"This is bad..."

It's not even on the scale of bad, its probably even terrible.

"Kh!"

Why... are there so many players here! It's barely been one week since one has tried to assassinate me in that dumb forest!

(Even so, I have pretty good luck. There's a few escape routes... but there's ONE problem... THAT.)

"Hey! Kirito! Where are you buddy?"

Klein is incredibly dense about this situation.

"(Quietly)How the hell am I going to get out of this?"

A secret only a handful of beta testers know is that players could be PLAYER KILLED. It's rather obvious one of them's spread the rumor.

"Whoa!"

Klein was already assaulted by 2 players at once (They obviously don't know how the skill system works)

(I'd better lay low for a while)

For now, Klein's bait.

...

**Bit Fast Foward into the plot: Back into The Town of Beginnings**

-2nd week since the game began, November 18th, 2022-

"Man, I have the worst kind of luck"

Our hero, now in [The Army] complains.

"Well, yeah, you're probably the only player in SAO who doesn't have a main weapon right now. What kind of idiot throws away his sword right after the tutorial of the game?"

The guild mate scoffs at him.

"Sigh..."

"We're not getting you a new one. Go get one yourself."

"I know, I know!"

I knew I shouldn't have spent it all on provisions for the guild. Now I regret joining a little.

"Well, don't worry about it, you'll get you a new sword before the first boss fight starts!"

"Huh? And when is that?"

"You don't remember? During that guild meeting we said we were going to start an expedition soon with the local players to get to the next floor."

"Oh, uh yeah…"

Actually, I was half asleep after staying up all night doing push-ups and sit-ups to see if my strength stat increases, but no luck.

"Well let's get ourselves into shape for the fight! I reserved a field just for us to train in!"

"Yeah, let's go."

There was one thing I didn't like about the guild. Monopolizing the monster's fields. This way, unless a player was associated with the army, they wouldn't be allowed and even attacked upon entering.

After grinding for several days, and resting back at the inn at night repeatedly…

"Hey, why won't these things drop a sword at least?! All they've been giving me is clothing and meat!"

We had hit level 10, and the monsters in the field would no longer spwan.

"Now what? They won't come back out anymore. I think they're extinct."

"Hahaha, well we've sure racked up a lot of experience points and gold, so let's rest up for the night."

"Fine."

This man, Kibaou, was the first Lieutenant of the army, and was also my subordinate trained with me every day and had rather close connections with the boss who I've never met before.

"By the way, the Floor Boss fight is coming up tomorrow. They finally completed the dungeon map."

That was rather fast.

"Huh.. I guess we'd better go back to town earlier today then. I can't really do anything without anything to fight anymore, can we?"

Using my fists was obviously not an option since I had no such martial arts skills.

"Of course not. Besides, we can keep a little money to ourselves, riiight?"

Another thing I didn't like about this guild. They're a bit like politics, which I pretty much hated. The guild's system was already starting to crumble.

"Yeah, whatever, let's go back."


	5. Ch 5: The First Boss Meeting

**Author Note**: I write whatever and whenever I want. Anyways, I'm lazy so don't expect anything too much. Unfortunately, I will not change this script-like way of telling a story until I improvise later (but I will because since there will be less characters for one, and I don't feel like dealing with that. Chapter delayed due to upcoming exams and several projects during the week)

There is only Kirito's POV this chapter. Due to my laziness, it was delayed a lot. Sorry I was only posting rough-draft like chapters up until now (I will fix it when I'm pretty bored before I go to sleep)

**Kirito: Returning back to the Town of Beginnings, and the Invitation**

-3 weeks after the death game began, November 22nd, 2022-

"This place sure has changed a lot. It's so lively here compared to before…"

Unlike the beta test, the town was full of players, which was obvious due to the fact we had 10 times the amount of players 24/7.

"Uwah, There are guilds here already!? It's hasn't been a month yet! No wonder this place is so lively"

The players were all noobs after all, surprising. You'd think it'd take them at least 3 months to figure out how to access the game's content. Especially, most people were in this guild named [The Army] and almost all of their members were wearing plate armor.

"Are those guys… extorting people?"

My stupid but first friend in the game asks.

I "coincidentally" met up with Klein at the town entrance, he was ready to leave his friends at the Town of Beginnings and look for the last missing friend. (I think he's dead)

"Your friends aren't part of them right?"

"Of course not!"

Their extortion isn't done in secret, but rather openly until a player that seemed to be their superior came around.

"...We should look around a little longer to check out the situation in this town."

"Hey, is that Emiya and... and another player with plated armor at the weapon shop..."

After hearing how disappointed he sounded...

"...Let's go, Klein."

"..Ok."

We go into the alley to listen in.

...

"…You're kidding."

Our distant friend yells out of contempt.

"Hey, a sword is a sword right?"

The armored male says sarcastically.

"That's only a wooden sword!"

"Better than nothing, right?"

"*Sigh*"

…

"Looks like Emiya's with those guys extorting items and money out of other players."

"(Whispering) Let's go up a little closer to listen in on their conversation."

...

"But you know, I didn't think there would be a limit on how much equipment the game npcs actually have. But to think they're out of stock…"

"That means the game has limited weapons too huh…"

The white-haired man complains.

...

"(Whispering)I was on the way to the weapon shop too…"

"(Whispering)Oh, you broke it?"

"(Whispering)No, but I was looking for something better if I'm going to fight in the upcoming boss battle."

Klein unsheathes his beginner sword.

"(Whispering)So, is what he said just now true?"

"(Whispering)Yeah, but in the beta, that quest I got my sword from was repeatable and anybody could do it. But when I had you and your friends try to do it, they wouldn't let you right? That means..."

"(Whispering)That means…"

"Means what?"

The familiar face we were tailing pops out of nowhere.

"Wha... how did you...?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

A floating ? could be seen on Emiya's head.

"W-when did you notice us?"

"Well, you guys were loitering around in the alley, whispering secret and stuff I guess. What, you're setting up a surprise attack on me or something? I saw you unsheathing your sword just now but this game doesn't allow PKing in towns though…"

(...He knows this much already?)

"I'm actually quite surprised you know so much now."

(I need to get it together!)

"Ah, by the way, I heard you joined that guild?"

"That guild? Oh you mean [The Army]?"

"Yeah, that one."

"They recruited me as a thanks for setting things up, they said."

Emiya still has an expressionless face.

"Maybe I should join too… oh wait, I'm already making a guild."

Klein slaps his forehead.

"You're better off not joining anyway. They'll make you grind for days on the same monster until they're extinct."

Emiya snickers.

"Geh."

(Ehh.. Extinction? What the hell were you doing?)

"I-I see..."

"Yeah, even though I'm a pretty high ranking officer. Even though I'm already starting to dislike this guild, and it's barely been a week since I joined."

"Huh? Why?"

My friend asks another dumb question.

"You were the first one to notice too..."

"Oh... OH!"

"Hey, Emiya, if you don't hurry up we're going to miss the boss meeting."

His friend dashes towards us.

(Wait... what?)

"Huh? Don't tell me you guys already found boss room?"

Even though I'm a beta tester, I didn't find the boss room with Klein and his friends either.

"...Yeah, do you guys want to join us?"

"Hold on. Come here Klein."

"?"

"Uh, sure Kirito."

I pull Klein back a few meters.

"(Whispering) Hey, what's wrong? I know I confessed to you in an alley like this but-"

"(Whispering) Enough with the jokes. But are you going to going to follow him and [The Army]?"

"(Whispering) Isn't it fine? I just think Emiya's just being a friend inviting us to a boss fight like an pal."

"(Whispering) Yeah, but wait!"

Klein pulls away from me and heads towards Emiya.

"It's fine if we join the boss fight?"

Klein says with a smile on his face.

"...Yeah"

Emiya smirks a bit.

"Hey, Emiya, you know these guys?"

Kibaou appears from behind Emiya.

"Yeah. You don't mind if they join us in the boss meeting, do you senpai?"

"It's fine I guess. I'm Kibaou, Emiya's direct superior in the guild The Army. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Klein, and this one is..."

Klein waves his hand telling me to come over.

"I'm Kirito... nice to meet you."

The 3 of us shake hands.

"The boss meeting is at the plaza, in about 10 minutes. Let's go."

Kibaou starts running, but just slow enough so Klein could catch up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We arrive at the plaza just in time.

"W-we just barely made it."

Kibaou, not sweating at all shows that he's slightly out of breath.

"Yeah, thanks to Kirito."

Emiya, who had no trouble keeping up with me shows a overconfident smirk.

"How… -gasp- is it… -wheeze- that… you're not out… of breath…"

Klein on the other hand, looks like he's about to die.

"Your level is 5 levels lower than ours. I'm wondering how you even kept up with us."

(Did he put all his ability points into Agility or something?)

Klein who's still tired, shows us a thumbs up.

"He's tough. He passes."

"P-passed wha...t"

"The requirement to participate in the boss fight."

Kibaou says with a smile.

"Now… who's in charge anyway?"

Emiya starts looking around.

"Oh yeah, you never met him in person yet Emiya."

"Who?"

The three of us say in unison.

"The guild leader of [The Army], Diabel."

Kibaou points to the center of the plaza, where a man with silver plate armor and blue hair stands.

"So that's the guild leader of [The Army] huh?"

...

"Everyone, please have a seat."

Diabel says in a loud but rather annoying voice in the plaza is filled with random players, and about half of them were members of The Army

"Huh? That's…"

Klein turns his head left.

"What's wrong Klein?"

"I found him Kirito!"

Klein runs to the right wing of the plaza.

"Who!? Geez… Guess we're splitting up from here."

I sit down in the back.

"Yeah. I might be joining up with other guild members."

"…Go with them Emiya."

"Is it alright, senpai?"

Emiya quickly turns his head.

"You haven't met up with them for a while right?"

"But senpai, who will you party with?"

"I was planning for us to party with the guild leader but it's fine. I'll go alone."

"Sorry about this, senpai."

Emiya walks towards Kirito in the back.

**...**

"Well, how'd it go Kirito?"

"Klein says he found the last of his friends, sod he's going to party with them."

"Any room left for us?"

"There's none."

"Can't help it huh? Let's take a seat in the back."

"So it's just the two of us huh?"

Moments later, the man supposing to be the guild leader of the major guild [The Army] starts his announcement.

"Now everyone, as some of you already know, I am the guild leader of The Army. Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower!"

"Whoa! For real!?" and such chatter from the generic players fill the plaza

"..."

What the hell do they think they're here for…

"We need to defeat the boss to advance to the second floor, and tell everybody in the Town of Beginnings that it's possible to beat the game. That is why, we are all here! Everyone here shares this duty! Isn't that right, everyone!?"

A silence… then after a brief moment, an encore of approval from the crowd.

"Alright, now let's start planning. Everyone please form parties of 6."

"Gah."

I jump out in surprise.

(I don't know that much people... and Kleins off with his buddies...)

"We don't have enough, huh."

As Emiya gives a [can't be helped] face, the man in the center of the plaza continues to explain his plan.

"A normal party has no chance against the boss. That's why we'll do a raid group with multiple parties at the same time."

"Shoot! Hurry up and find somebody to join us! Kirito!"

"You're right, I'd be sad to be partying up with only 1 guy. I'll take the left, you'll take the right."

"Roger!... wait, let's party up first."

I send Emiya a party invitation.

"Alright, now go! Just bring them back here."

"Roger!" and Emiya runs off.

…

I look around the left side, the only person on the left is a cloaked player so I scoot up closer to get a closer look on his/her face.

"Hey, did you get left out?"

"I didn't get left out. Everyone seemed to know each other so I stayed out of it."

"A solo player?"

Like me. Right now is an exception though.

"In that case, would you like to form a party with me then? He said we can't beat the boss on our own. How about just this time?"

The player nods.

...

"Kirito! I found a party of 4 if you didn't get anybody!"

"Too bad Emiya. We already have a party of 3."

Another announcement comes from the man in the middle.

"Alright! Has everyone joined a party? None? Then…"

"Wait just a second!"

Kibaou stands in front of Diabel.

"What's senpai doing?"

"Can't say…"

Kibaou gives a weird wink in our direction.

"I have something to say before we fight the boss."

Kibaou puffs his chest.

"You need to apologize to those who have died so far!"

"Huh?"

Who's he talking about?

"You… as in referring to the beta testers?" the guild leader asks.

"That's a given! On the day the damn game started, they all left the beginners in the Town Of Beginnings and disappeared, taking all the good hunting spots and quests just so that they could become stronger, since then they just ignored all of us. I'm definitely sure there's someone here that was in the beta!"

He starts pointing fingers randomly.

"So, what do you propose they do?"

Diabel smirks for a brief moment.

"They all need to dogeza, then give up all the items and money they hoarded! That's a given as party members, otherwise we can't trust them and they can't trust us!"

"Gh…"

He… won't find me… right?

"Senpai…"

"Can I say something?"

A large man with very dark skin equipped with a pole arm stands up and approaches Kibaou.

"He's huge… like Berserker."

"Huh? Who?"

I question his reference.

"Never mind."

...

"My name's Egil. You're telling me that because the beta testers didn't take care of them, the beginners died, and because of that they should take responsibility, apologize, and compensate, is that what your point?"

"T-that's right."

"You got this guide book too right?"

Egil pulls out the guide book.

" It was for free at every item store."

"I did but.. what about it?"

"It was compiled by the beta testers."

"Kh…"

"Hear me out. Everyone had equal access to the information. But many players still died. I thought the topic of this meeting was how we could learn from those deaths and use what we learned in the boss fight."

"Wow… he's good… is he a lawyer?"

Klein's voice comes from behind.

"Right?"

"Gah! When did you get here!?"

"I have ninja powers."

"Hahaha. It's just really easy to sneak up on you, Kirito."

Emiya chuckles.

"Yeah, quit playing around. What happened to your friend?"

"You three looked lonely so I decided to join you!"

...

Egil and Kibaou sit back down. Clearly the winner of this debate was Egil.

"Now everyone, we have seen an admirable victory from our lawyer here."

Diabel says with obvious sarcasm.

Everybody laughs (Except us in the back)

"Getting back on topic, the latest edition of the guide book we received contains information on the boss. According to it, the boss name is [Illfang the Kobold Lord], and he is guarded by assistants known as [Ruin Kobold Sentinels]. The boss is armed with an axe and buckler, with 4 hp bars, and when the last one enters the red he switches to a curved sword called [Talwar] and changes his attack pattern.

Mild discussion fills the plaza.

"That's the end of the meeting. Also, items will all be randomly distributed, and the party who defeats the monsters gets the experience points and money, and whoever gets the item keeps it. Any objections?"

Diabel and Kibaou smile.

"Oh but there is one exception. This applies to everyone but… **The beta testers."**

Diabel gazes towards my direction.

"…!"

A chill's sent up my spine.

...

"Geez, why does everyone hate beta testers so much?"

Emiya gives a face of dissatisfaction.

"That's true… It's not like they could be heroes if they did that anyway. There's only so much a beta tester could do alone, right Kirito?"

Klein smiles.

"…"

No…

"Kirito? You okay?"

"Uh… yeah."

"What's wrong? You're looking kind of pale."

"It's nothing, really."

"Alright! We all leave tomorrow, 10 in the morning! You're all dismissed, so please prepare your equipment."

Diabel finishes his annoucement.

"Alright! Let's party like mad after this!"

Klein heads off to his long lost companion.

"Yeah, yeah, see you until then."

Our new party member gets up, so we follow him… or her.


	6. Ch 6: Poor Treatment

**Author note**: I'll try to change my way of writing. Since I hurt my right hand I couldn't type for a few weeks. In return, more chapters! (although exams are like 2 weeks away). It feels a bit stiff, but I liked it better when I wrote in script form... oh well. To please thy readers, I might stop this way of writing... Then again THIS IS MY STORY. So everything is according to plan.

**Interlude: Tohsaka Residence**

"That helmet…"

"Huh? What's wrong, Rin-san?"

"That helmet won't come off."

"Well, they said that if you try to pull the helmet off in the news, they will die."

"Eh? But I tried and tried. How come he's not dead?"

Rin pouts.

(…You tried to kill him?)

"Interesting…"

"It's not interesting at all! Isn't he your friend or something!?"

Rin walks up to Shirou, and takes out 2 jewels, a sapphire and a topaz.

"Stand back."

Suguha feels a shiver sent down her spine, and instinctively steps back a bit.

"What're you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Rin throws both of the jewels at Shirou's helmet, exploding the magical energy they had stored.

"Wah!"

A gaint bright light gleams over the room for a few moments, filling the room with smoke and then settles down.

"No way! It's unscratched! I threw a couple of jewels full of my magical energy at the helmet but… the helmet's unscratched!?"

"Eh!? No way!"

Suguha glances over to see the results.

"It's true… but why? Isn't magic the awesome things that make miracles?"

Rin shakes her head.

"Of course not! Even magic has their limits. Besides, you're talking about Sorcery, which is completely different from using magecraft. It's pretty much a {True Magic}."

Rin sighs.

"…Eh…EH!? But… how can something like a helmet withstand something so amazing like magic! It even has such a nice ring to the way it sounds!"

"I'm guessing all of these helmets are made of extremely durable materials for some reason. There wasn't even any magical barrier in any case, so there's no way it could've blocked it... I can't find any other logical explanation for this!"

Rin sighs once more and starts mumbling about magic stuff.

"What are you going to do from now on, Suguha?"

Suguha looks at the clock.

"Guess I'll quit for now… I have to go to school now for morning practice. I'm off!"

"Then I'll see you later."

As soon as Suguha closes the door, the NerveGear starts beeping.

"...Heh?"

A small crack appears on the helmet, and a red light flashes rapidly from the helmet.

"W-what do I do!? I don't know a thing about how to fix this! Maybe using jewels were a bit too extreme... I should've sticked to using only Gandr!"

The red light still flashes, then a few sparks fly from the helmet.

"Geh!"

Sending Rin into a panic, she brings out her laptop.

"D-don't die on me Shirouuuuu!"

She rams the USB cord into the helmet and attempts to fix it through the computer, typing so fast rapidly that several windows pop up at the speed of light, eventually stopping the flashing from the helmet.

Narrator: I think she broke it.

**Meanwhile, outside the mansion…**

"Wait… this is Fuyuki city… So where's the train station?"

Suguha checks her skirt pocket.

(I didn't bring money either…)

…

Suguha looks back at the mansion and a red light flares up from the window!

"…"

(No… I shouldn't get involved with that person… _  
_But! I've got no choice! I don't know the way home or have the money to take the train either!)

Suguha runs back to the Tohsaka mansion into the room Shirou's body was, and by the time she got there the red lights stopped.

"W-what happened?"

Rin, still looking confused by the events that gets up and…

"You... DUMB MACHINE!"

…And smashes her fist onto Shirou's unconscious face.

(So cruel.)

"Don't pull that trick ever again!... Oh Suguha? What's wrong? I thought you went to school"

(Rin-san… you're scary.)

Suguha stares at Rin with a dumbfounded face.

**Intermission: Emiya!?**

A few hours after the boss meeting, a banquet had begun between parties of the raid group.

"**Kirito-kun**."

"W-what is it, Klein? You sound so serious all of a sudden."

"I know this is a banquet and all but…"

Emiya crosses his legs on the chair, and sips his water with misty eyes.

"But?"

Klein throws the piece of plain bread on the floor.

"**HOW THE HECK IS THIS A BANQUET!? EVEN IF IT WAS A BANQUET, WHO THE HELL SERVES ONLY PLAIN BREAD AND WATER AT ONE!?"**

Kirito tries to tell him to calm down.

"**HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN THEY'RE DRINKING WINE IN FRONT OF US WHILE WE GET THIS KIND OF TREATMENT!? WE'RE RISKING OUR LIVES IN THE BOSS FIGHT TOO!"**

Emiya gets up and pats Klein's shoulder.

"Klein's right. Besides, that's The Army's guild leader, so obviously he'd get some VIP treatment."

"Kuuh… I'm so envious… I know! When I get rich and have my own guild, I'll be so mean and eat the most luxurious food in the game in the 1st floor! That way, everyone will shower me with eyes of envy! Just watch me, THE STUPID ARMY!"

"Klein... You're so evil. But I want something better than plain bread too."

"...I'll learn the cooking skill later. I don't want to end up eating this stuff for too long, even if it is a game... If there is one."

"..."

_Asuna glares at me._

"Obviously it's too plain!"

Klein puffs out his chest in pride, holding a cup of water in his left hand.

(…What are you so proud of, anyway?)

Everyone gives the same reaction.

(This is bad. The mood is pretty terrible, Klein's pissed off, Asuna is mad at me for some reason, and the food is terrible! What should I do!)

...Well for now I guess I'll try to lighten the mood.

"...W-well, Klein's right. In any case, the bread really is too plain. It's taste leaves more to be desired."

"**Right!?"**

Klein notices Kirito taking out a small jar.

"**What's that?**"

Klein walks up close to Kirito with a threatening voice, giving off an aura of a hoodlum that's about to mug a bystander.

"I-it's a special something to change your bread a little. I use it every day on the bread so… It'd be kind of a waste if I was the only one enjoying it."

"Hm? Is that so."

The 4 of us reached for the jar simultaneously, and spread its contents all over the bread, and the jar breaks as its durability's limit had been reached.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you guys tha-"

Klein takes a bite on the bread and…

"UWAAAAAAH! SPIIIIIICCCCYYY! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, TABASCO!?"

"...That it has random contents with every use… too late?"

I gulp.

"GAAH! DAMN YOU KIRITO!"

Klein yells and rams the bread with tabasco-flavored sauce into Kirito's mouth.

...But... Kirito only gives a smile and eats the rest of the bread.

"Ooh!"

...

(In a sense, it's Russian roulette)

"There was even a person who got poisoned from it, and one time I got mustard…"

"Even poisoned?!"

I stare at my bread in fear.

"Yeah, he didn't make it. We didn't have any items to cure poison at the first floor anyway."

…

(Should I really eat this?)

Kirito chomps on the bread.

"Well, there's around a million different flavors and types of effects, they're all unique so don't worry. Klein's just unlucky. Oh, I got mayonnaise."

… I glance over at Asuna who just took a bite out of hers.

"… Peanut butter."

"Or so she says. That's pretty lucky."

I take a bite and…

"…Seafood?"

"Oh! You got lucky! If I remember correctly from the beta, it's effect was 1 permanent point increase in STR or something…"

"You're kidding! The game would be unbalanced then! Ahh, my stomach feels heavy..."

Klein complains.

I open my status window but…

"There's no change."

"I remember it was supposed to increase strength though... Maybe it was a different fish..."

All of a sudden, my level got raised to 200.

"Huh? I leveled up?"

"Eh?

"I got leveled up."

Suddenly, a jolt runs through my spine.

"?"

And… I black out.

"Emiya? Hey, Emiya!? Emiya!"

Narrator: I think he's dead.


	7. Ch 7: The First Loli Character

Author note: Sorry for the delay, but at long last, the new chapter has been finished! I have pondered around how this should've been written. But at long last, the exams are nearly over! Hopefully I will finish soon. No spoilers, mind you.

**The Town of Beginnings: Local Inn**

"He just collapsed all of a sudden…"

Kirito says with a poker face.

"Right? I hope he's all right. But a lot of people were like that in the first day right? Maybe his is just late, like a period."

"Anyway, I've contacted that guild mate of his"

Kibaou comes in unreserved.

"Ah, there's Emiya… hmm…"

Kibaou observes his body.

"S-so... W-what's wrong?"

"Yeah, it doesn't look like he won't be able to make it."

"Huh!? What do you mean he's not going to make it!? You're a doctor, right?"

"I'm not a doctor! Don't go assuming things on your own, Klein!"

"We can't let someone with health issues take part of the boss fight. It looks as if he's on his death bed!"

(He is on a bed after all…)

"No way…"

Kibaou contacts the guild leader, and Diabel comes in a minute.

"…Yes, he's going to stay here and rest until he's recovered, and is not to take part of the upcoming boss fight tomorrow."

Diabel looks at Emiya's current health.

"Can't we do anything?"

"Diabel gets to make the decision you know."

"Yeah, I know, he's an asset and an important part of our party… but it's already been decided that we'll raid the boss tomorrow."

Diabel nods.

"Agreed. We can't afford to wait for him, otherwise I fear all the experienced players in the 1st floor of the raid will all disband here."

I just try to drop the protest from Klein completely.

"That's how it is. We can't wait for him."

"What are you going to do? Are you going to abandon your party for one person?"

Klein faces me.

"Hey, Kirito!"

"…No. I'll stay in the raid, I don't mind being part of it, even as a supporting party."

Diabel pats me on the shoulder.

"Nice choice. I know I can count on you."

Diabel faces Kibaou.

"We're leaving."

Kibaou nods.

Just right after Kibaou leaves the front door, Diabel turns back and whispers into my ear.

"…I'm expecting a lot from you… **Beta Tester**."

(As I thought that man's a beta tester as well… but how does he know!?)

Diabel smiles, and walks away.

...

"What's wrong? Did he hit on you or something? You look like a bi-shounen(pretty boy) after all."

"Enough with those kinds of jokes Klein. It's not that funny unless there's another person to humor here. I'm going to rest up for tomorrow. Good night."

"Hahaha. Good night."

"…We're heading out without Emiya. Unless he wakes up before the fight, we can't take him with us."

"That's a given. We can't do anything about it until he wakes up after all."

I pay the innkeeper NPC and walk up the stairs, passing our party member, 'Asuna'.

"Oh, going to bed? Good night."

"None of your business."

Asuna climbs down the stairs.

(What's up with her?)

I walk down a few steps and find Klein attempting to hit on Asuna, but he's ignored and she walks outside.

I walk up to the room I reserved and lay on the rock-hard mattress.

Her words echo in my head.

"…None of my business huh?"

At least she replied.

…

-2 Hours Later-

"Hah...I can't sleep. What she said is still bugging me…"

I take a look outside the inn's window.

(Guess I'll take a walk.)

I go up to the nearby fields and start killing mobs of the level 4 monsters to pass the time.

(95%... I've almost got 1 more level to my arsenal. This way I'll finally get my 3rd skill slot.)

I take a break and to my surprise, Asuna was sleeping around the town's walls.

"Eh…"

I better go wake her up… before she gets herself kidnapped… or worse.

"Hey, wake up."

I shake her a bit.

"Mmh.."

Looks like she's not waking up. Better shake a bit more, but she's a girl so I'll be gentle.

"…Damn it."

(I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WAKE UP A GIRL GENTLY! What would Klein do in a time like this?)

...

…I imagine that for a moment, but Klein ends up as a lolicon.

"Haah..."

Let's check my options.

I can't move her body, if she wakes up like that while I drag her to town I'll be accused of being a molester, and lose my reputation and become blacklisted by nearly every girl…(overreaction)

If I shake her violently she'll get pissed and leave as the only other party member… I don't want to be only partied with Klein!

That only leaves…

"I guess I'll watch over her huh…"

Narration by Klein: And so, Kirito looks over the young girl from head to toe with lecherous eyes until the next morning…

**Interlude: Emiya, 72 hours after presumed fainting**

"Wake up."

…Who is it?

(I don't recognize this voice...)

I peel my eyes open a little...

(I see someone… a small girl with white hair?)

"Wake up!"

She slaps me in the face repeatedly.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

I grab her arm before the next slap.

"You're finally awake."

"…Who are you?"

She looks a lot like Illya, my little sister.

"I am the Program managing Cardinal. I have a request to make."

"A request?"

Her appearance isn't so different from a normal human being, or any NPCs I've met, but something was clearly different. The power emanating from her seems to transcend any being I've seen so far in this game. An awesome but strange feeling that seems as it'd vaporize me swirls around my body, and this heat...

(It's… so hot!)

"It's a request only you can fulfill. You are the player with the most potential and the most powerful out of all."

A feeling of darkness creeps up in front of my eyes from the little girl… but stops right before it reaches me.

(What power! Even though this is just a game! Just who is she!?)

"It's but a small favor."

"Then, what is it?"

I keep my guard up.

(How much... does she know about me?)

"To tell you the truth, you humans do not stand a chance clearing this game. I am tired of you foolish people dying every day, pulling stupid stunts. You can feel the hatred of those oppressed already, don't you?"

"Hatred? Who's oppressed?"

"The one oppressing is the guild named [The Army]."

"What!? That's…"

(MY guild!)

"That is the name of the guild you are in."

"But how! Why!?"

"On the surface for guild members like you, it seems like an easy and happy life. In truth they oppress all the other players for money and their items."

"I can't believe this!"

"Even your friends probably have noticed this fact by now."

"I refuse to believe that!"

"You seem rather ignorant."

Then, what were all those times I had fun with Kibaou with? Were those all lies for a straight month!?

"…Got it. I will join you. I wish to learn the truth."

"That was a quick decision. What is it that made this quick decision?"

"You… look exactly like my little sister. And that already… made me believe you will not betray me. Besides, you could've killed me already with all of that power you have."

She gives off a small but cute smile.

(…She's pretty cute… She really does remind me of Illya.)

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing… continue."

"I've now hacked Cardinal and added the Master Menu to your game's programming. It can't be deleted."

(Cardinal? Hacking? Master Menu?)

"So I guess this means you're my ally now then."

"Although I said work for me… I'll be by your side most of the time… so save as much as you can. That is your mission. I don't want to see any more suffering. I'll hope you'll meet my expectations."

"…Yeah. By the way, where are we? I remember that I was having a party but…"

Illya?: We are currently in a unused map, a blank area next to the [Floating Castle, Aincrad]. I'll send your character avatar to the 2nd Floor, the main town Urbus.

(Urbus? 2nd floor?)

"Wait, so they've defeated the bos-"

She points at the floating castle below us, and

**KICKS ME.**

"S... Eh? Wait…"

-several minutes later-

"The castle is actually pretty far off. That was a pretty fun ride! I'd like to try that again."

Illya laughs.

"Even if it was, there was no need to kick me all the way to the first floor! I literally became a shooting star!"

"You didn't die right?"

"No, I'm just barely hurt... although the pain was horrifying. For some reason. Even though I'm sure I should've died because of that crash landing."

"If you were just a normal player, you would've died there."

"Huh?"

"Look at your current level."

I check my level.

"Level... 200..."

"Cheating, I know, but right now you have other things to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll find out soon."

She gives off another cute, devilish smile.

"One more thing. Cmon, lower your head a little."

?

The little girl kisses me.

"…What."

She wipes her lips.

"Installation complete. Now I have an backup even if I am deleted from the main server. Just in case. You could never know what could happen."

"Uh… by the way, what is your name?"

"I actually have none. I'm actually program #144, Cardinal Supervisor."

"Then your name is Illya. That's your name from now on."

"Illya?"

She questions my naming sense.

"My... little sister died before, and you have the exact same appearance so…"

"Got it. My name is Illya from now on."

"Do you know who the mastermind behind all this, Illya?"

(I only know about the Holy Grail war, and it's been a month since that incident...)

"His name is Kayaba Akihiko. Please remember his name."

I nod.

"So.. what do we do now?"

"You have no weapon at the moment.

"I have the wooden sword that Kibaou bought for me…"

"That wooden sword is worthless. You're better off using your fists."

"Thought so."

Illya points to the southern town exit.

"Let's go to learn the Martial Arts extra skills. Please follow me."

As we head towards the exit, many players stare at the small figure, and some even try to start a conversation with her.

"…"

I start worrying, so I grab her right hand.

"What's the matter?"

"Don't mind this."

"I see. Now turn left then take the right path, next turn right once more when you reach the stump at the end of the path, until we get to the hut."

"Got it. I'll be counting on you, because you are the only guide I have. This is a new floor to me."

We walk for another half hour, following her directions.

...

"By the way, in what manner should I address you by?"

"...Call me… onii-chan!"

"...I've got it, [**onii-chan**]."

She says with her expressionless voice, with eyes of disgust.

"Please tell me when we arrive at our destination."

"Roger, [**onii-chan**]."

She says with her cold, expressionless voice once more.

"I got it, I got it… Geez. Call me Emiya."

I guess it was too early… she isn't Illya after all.

"Yes, Emiya."

On the way, I see Kirito with an old man in a Gi (Karate/Judo outfit).

(Kirito's trying to… what the heck's he doing with that rock?)

Kirito repeatedly hits the rock with powerful smashes and eventually demolishes the gaint rock with his palm, while repeatedly taking HP potions.

"Whoa! Kirito?"

Kirito turns around with a lot of black ink on his face.

"If… -gasp- it isn't Emiya… -gasp-…"

Kirito takes a deep breath.

"You're... finally back!"

"What're you doing with that rock?"

I question his face and his actions.

"I'm taking the quest… to learn the Martial Arts extra skill."

From the looks of it, he probably finished.

"Now, take the quest from the NPC, Emiya."

Illya tugs on my shirt.

"Ah, got it."

"You're taking the quest too huh? ...Who's the little girl? She's pretty small and cute… **ARE YOU A LOLICON!?"**

"HOW DID YOU JUMP TO THAT CONCLUSION!"

I sigh.

"Her name is Illya... She's just a friend of mine, and I met her today."

"Is that so? Nice to meet, Illya."

"..."

Illya only glances at Kirito and ignores the hand he put out.

...

After introducing the two, we walked into the hut with Kirito leading me and stood in front of the old man who was sitting in Zen meditation. Later Kirito said he had business to take care of after getting a strange message, and left. Now, the old man in the ruggedly looking martial arts uniform at me before says;

"Thou wishes to be a disciple?"

"Yes."

"Even though there be a long and steep road of training?"

"Yes."

After a short conversation, the [**?**] above the head of the old man changed into [**!**], indicating that the quest was accepted.

The old man moves outside the hut, toward a huge rock at the edge of the garden, which was surrounded by cliffs. Its height was about two meters, with a diameter of about 2 meters, the master lightly knocked it and spoke while he was stroking his beard with his left hand,

"Thine training is just one. Splitting this rock using only thy palms. Once thou have succeeded, I shall teach thee all my knowledge."

"W-Wait a bit."

I tapped lightly on the huge rock, feeling a little nervous about this unexpected development.

Emiya: (Kirito was able to destroy this by repeatedly using potions… but I don't have much on me.)

I made that judgement and turned to the master to cancel the quest. However, before I could do so—

"Until this rock is split, leaving this mountain is forbidden. And thou hast to demonstrate it in front of me."

The master who spitted out that line took strange objects from his belt. On his left hand was a small pot. Then in his right hand was… a thick and elegant — writing brush.

Bad feeling, a word made up in a 3D font floated over my head.

(I have a bad feeling but… Looks like I can't cancel the quest huh.)

"Sei!"

The old man throws jet-black ink at my face, but I manage to dodge it.

"Whoa!"

The old man says "Hmph. I will return when you have successfully split the rock." and returns to his hut.

"Roger. Haah!"

I smash my palm on the large rock and...

Ouch... Guess it was pretty reckless huh.

All my ability points are contributed to [Agility] after all. How did you think I managed to dodge his attack?

"I don't think I can pull this off alone... so... ILLLYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I scream for her to get a solution out of this situation.

"You called for me. What is it?"

"Can you give me an advantage to clearing the quest? Such as rewriting the format of this rock or strengthening my hands?"

"I cannot change the format of the rock. I have no access over quests. I am able to do the latter though. Because you have the Master Menu. Please utilize it."

"How… do I use this?"

After an hour of Illya explaining, and repeatedly checking it out, we made it so my gloves that I'm wearing are upgraded to +9 reinforcement.

"Whoa..."

These gloves feel really different. It's like when I reinforce an object using prana.

"Now, try splitting the rock with your palms."

I nod, and Illya jumps down the cliff.

"Haaaaah!"

I smash the rock with my palm once more (covered with the glove).

"Results already huh…"

I see several cracks on the tip of the rock I hit.

"Heh…"

I glance at the NPC, who came out of the hut again and looks as if he's preparing to throw some ink at my face again, stirring the pot of ink with a brush.

(Sorry Kirito, but looks like that's not going to happen to me! But I better hurry!)

I smash the rock with my palm with full force, creating even more cracks.

"ONE MORE TIME!"

This time, I smash the rock with both hands, and as a result the rock comes falling apart, splitting into smaller pieces, and the NPC starts walking towards me.

"Well done, here is your reward. The Martial Arts extra skill, and a signature from yours truly."

"Thank you." (What's the point of having a signature from a NPC?)

I jump off the cliffs, meeting up with Illya at the bottom.

"Are you done?"

"Yes, let's go. Where shall we go now?"

"Make more money. Train for 3 days straight to master your new skill, then we'll rest in the main city, [Urbus]."

"That's a really tough training schedule…"

"On the way, please start obtaining weapons. Your inventory size has been expanded to 10,000 slots."

"That's a lot… What did I have before?"

"Everybody had only 100. That should've never changed but, I changed the programming for you. You have 100 skill slots as well."

"What! Really?"

I open the menu to check if it's true.

"...Amazing. With this I can beat this game!"

* * *

Author's note: Sorry if I forget to edit from the script form. But I will somewhat try from my laziness to edit it out if I notice it.


	8. Ch 7-5: No Emiya? And the Boss Battle

Author's Notes: This story will NOT be the same as the Light Novels. It will use the original settings of the story course. However... this is not exactly 100% fan made. I'm really lazy after all. But here is chapter 7.5

* * *

**In front of the Boss Room.**

"..."

I only am getting an eerie feeling. My intuition is just **SCREAMING** telling me to not open the door to save what chance I have left to live... but that's not my decision, but it's for the leader of this expedition and the guild leader of [The Army] to decide. Despite my gut feeling, he still opens the door.

I can't help but gulp, and ended up getting pat on the shoulder by Klein, telling me to calm down.

After all 8 parties entered the last room of the dungeon, the door closes behind us.

Soon, about 40 [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] start to show up, along with [Illfang the Kobold Lord], from behind the pillars, armed with an axe and buckler, with 4 hp bars.

With a commanding voice, Diabel shouts:

"DO NOT FALTER! SHOW THEM THE PRIDE OF [THE ARMY]!"

With just a few words, his guild at the front line charges at the boss, and starts fighting about half of all the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] along with the boss, while Diabel himself just sits in the back acting like some famous tactician you would see out of movies, although all he did was raise morale.

Looks like this boss fight is pretty disappointing... I tell my 2 party members to follow me.

"...Come on Asuna, Klein. We're fighting with the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels]."

I already explained our role as supporting parties, as almost all the players in the main force fighting the boss in close combat were tanking all of the bosses hits. Only but ONE party was not in [The Army] in the front...

...

10 minutes later, we've nearly taken down 10 of the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] with Klein and Asuna at the same time. Diabel, was just sitting in the back not really doing anything.

However, right before we were about to finish our 11th one off, Kibaou, leader of the team attacking the Sentinels comes near my party.

The [Ruin Kobold Sentinel] was a rare monster that only spawned here, so although it did not give as much experience and col as the boss, but it still dropped an item. Only money was automatically distributed evenly among members in a raid party, while the experience was split between those who defeated it, which were Asuna and me. The item drop had a higher probability of going to Asuna since she landed the final hit.

(However, the extra trio of Asuna and I defeated our targets much faster than the full six-member party of Kibaou's. We have half his number of people, but why did he come so close-)

Just as I thought that, Kibaou's voice whispered loudly right behind me.

"I know what you're up to. Feels good, doesn't it?"

"…What did mean?"

Since the last two of the three Sentinels that had spawned in the third wave were just about to be taken care of, there was spare time to talk until the next wave spawned. The cactus-headed swordsman glared at me as I frowned, and then raised his voice and spat out:

"Don't pretend. I already know your motive for slipping into this boss raid."

"My…motive?"

(He... knows?)

"What, playing innocent, are we? I know exactly what you're aiming for!"

The premise behind this conversation didn't seem to be connecting for me. As I unconsciously grinded my teeth out of a strange frustration, Kibaou finally told me the heart of the matter.

We spit it out at the same time:

"I didn't think you were after her too... **but with that hairstyle there's no way you can get a girlfriend!**" "I know about it. I heard a little about you…**in the past, you did the dishonorable act of [LA](Last Attack) on the boss**!"

...

"Huh?"

I question his words. "...What are you saying."

"Hmph. Didn't you hear me? I'm not going to let you land a single [LA] on these Kobolds."

"...Do you have a grudge against me or something?"

"No, I just can't stand the fact that you are getting the [LA] on the boss"

"Huh? Are you going to stalk me or something?

Only Argo knows about me in the beta... but that's impossible since she wouldn't just give out info on a beta tester unless it meant a lot of money... unless Diabel there lied to Kibaou here...

Then I recall the fact that Diabel himself was the guild leader.

"Um... no... That's a misunderstanding..."

Yeah, since there's NO WAY I will have a chance fighting him in the first place, since the boss fight is going so well.

"I think your boss is going to aim for that."

Finally, the boss reaches throws away his axe and buckler...

I start to recall Diabel's words at the meeting...

'...and when the last one enters the red he switches to a curved sword called [Talwar] and changes his attack pattern.'

Diabel runs to the front lines.

"What do you mean?"

I point at their guild leader.

"He's going for the [LA] huh?"

Kibaou smiles while saying this. But his expression changes quickly.

"...Huh? W-what's that?"

* * *

Diabel starts his weapon's [One Handed Sword] skill, [Linear] (basically a thrust like Asuna's)

"Here he comes..."

Diabel can't help but smile, thinking that his victory was certain. As the boss' weapons drop to the floor, Diabel, with the [Linear] skill fully charged, is **beheaded** in an instant by the boss**, **without even given a chance to heal using POT (potions).

* * *

"What do you mean?"

"His equipment..."

As Kibaou's smile drops fast and his eyes widen...

"?"

I squint my eyes to take a closer look on [Illfang]'s equipment.

(Two... swords!? What... is that supposed to mean!?)

I tell my party and Kibaou: "It looks a bit dangerous... so we're not going to engage the boss unless we need to."

But everyone just questions what I just said.

...

**"**_Aahh... AHHHHHHHHH!"_

The front line members only scream, and run away in fear for their lives, under the fact their leader was killed in an instant, leaving only the unaffiliated party to defend against the boss with **two swords**. However the boss went on extreme offense, killing it should be an easy task.

Or so I thought, but 3 tanking players running from the boss' merciless attacks were killed before we had a chance to do anything.

"Crap. No choice huh... Let's go, Asuna, Klein!"

(How the hell did this happen?)

This boss is different than the one I fought in the beta! This should've been a happy ending, celebrating our victory by now!

I grit my teeth, and my party gives me a positive response.

"Yeah!" "Roger!"

They know. Even though the three of us alone have no chance of defeating the boss, they still follow me.

But it's not like we have a choice. We can fight now for a chance of survival or get killed by the boss. That's our only option left.

The three of us run to face the menace.

"I'll get the right arm holding the [Nodachi], Klein, get the left arm holding [Talwar]! Asuna, you attack him with all you've got!"

However, with only 3 of us, and the main force on break, I knew this was near impossible.

...Forget the [Last Attack Bonus], I don't even think I can handle this arm on my own!

"Haah!"

Asuna attacks [Illfang] with her rapier in rapid succession in thrusts, her [Linear] skill's been boosted by her own movements, beautifully executed. I can't see anything but a flash from her rapier as his last HP bar slowly decreases, the gaint boss jumps up to the ceiling and back right in front of us in full force, attempting to smash his two swords onto Klein and me to kill us in an instant, leaving a dent on the boss room's floor.

"Whoa..."

As we barely dodge his dual bladed attack by a hair's width, he attacks us with the side of his gigantic sword similar in a way in playing baseball, sending Klein and me crashing into Asuna and Kibaou in pain.

"I can see... why he died at an instant."

Klein tries to get up as he says this.

"Save your breath Klein! He's coming!"

Before we could regain our balance, [Illfang] charges at us in a speed unfit for his gaint size, and readies an X shape with both swords.

"Crap!"

I can't counter this in time!

With split seconds to our death, I close my eyes.

(No... I refuse to die!)

"...?"

I peel one eye open. To my surprise, the gaint dark skinned man with the brilliant speech in the plaza successfully blocks BOTH swings with his large axe, and even pushes back [Illfang] by a rather large distance.

"A...amazing..."

"GET UP ALREADY! THERE'S NO TIME TO REST!"

With a voice similar to a drill sergeant, my body, along with the others automatically gets up.

"G-give me a second."

Klein's HP bar, as well as mine and Asuna's were dangerously low due to our choice in prioritizing speed over defense. Perhaps even Kibao- no, he wears heavy armor, so he was a tanking class swordsman. He should be fine.

Kibaou glances at me for a split second, and then glances at the boss for a instant, and turns around where his guild members were.

"ARE YOU ALL AFRAID!?" He yells with an voice of not anger, but somewhat similar to a melancholic way of speaking towards his guild.

(That's not going to work... they're helpless without their leader, he was the person who set this whole thing up, and died after all.)

Continuing his speech; he still yells but walks closer to where his guild members were.

"YOU ARE ALL MEN, RIGHT!? YOU'RE JUST GOING TO RUN AWAY AND COWER IN FEAR JUST BECAUSE THEY KILLED YOUR LEADER!?"

"Hey, I can't hold this up for long alone!"

I nod. As I take the healing POT (potion), Asuna and Klein started attacking [Illfang] from the sides and his back, while I blocked his attacks with our dark skinned friend with the large axe, and he retreats and jumps back a good 15 meters.

He... retreated? I think I'm onto something...

I look at the bosses' last HP guage, which was nearly depleted. However, I can't afford chances like that idiot Diabel, who did something similar like a suicide charge.

(I need a plan... but there's no time.)

"Asuna, Klein..."

I look at the two and the last one.

"...Berserker."

"It's Egil. Who's a berserker?"

"Egil. We'll definitely defeat him, so Klein, Egil, can you block his swords one last time?"

I glance at them.

"Yeah, leave it to me."

They all nod.

"Let's go! Don't get killed guys!"

Narrator: Don't jinx them Kirito.

As I planned, Egil and Klein blocked the two swords

"Now!"

...While Asuna and I cut the boss into pieces.

(Thankfully, Egil was there to support us, and we barely defeated the boss... Next time we won't be so lucky.)

...

After dealing the Last Hit to defeat [Illfang], I received a [You got the Last Attack Bonus!] on my screen, obtaining the [Coat of Midnight], while Klein got the [Nodachi] from him(lucky bastard).

As Egil and Asuna give us our congratulations for defeating the boss, I equip the newly obtained equipment.

* * *

...But. Kibaou was not finished with his speech.

"That's right. Everything went to hell, and our leader died, because of these damn beta testers!"

I look at the distance the voice of anger came from.

"...What...?"

(They have no right to blame me. They chickened out and let a mere 10 people handle the boss!)

...Sorry, but I'm not going to go with your plans. I will save at least these people... At the very least, Asuna and Klein.

"...Hmph. That's right. I'm a beta tester."

I start walking towards them.

"See!?"

Asuna and Klein didn't seem shocked with this fact, but the rest of the army seemed to riot in hate for this near death experience, rhanting things like 'take responsibility you damn beta tester!' and so.

There's no way out of this. Someone must take the blame for the death of the leader. But I still will not go along that crafty Kibaou's plan.

"...However, don't get me wrong. I'm not like the noobs like your leader. The beta testers barely even knew how to play the game, like plain amateurs. The only reason we could defeat this boss was because I knew much more sword skills than your pathetic leader. You all are so much better in comparison."

"Wait..."

Kibaou tries to interrupt me, but I continue.

"Oh, you leader was a beta tester as well you know? Yet, he ran a guild without you all knowing this fact. Hahaha, and he pulled you into this mess, although he was a fool in the end, and got killed by his own greed. Didn't you know? The person who lands the [Last Attack] gets an item from the boss. Your boss was quite the ambitious man... Only to die."

I start walking up the stairs to open the gate to the 2nd floor.

"How dare you insult our leader! Even though you're just a damn cheater!"

The crowd of [The Army] members continue rhanting words 'damn beta tester' and 'cheater'. Soon, I start hearing something jumbled up sounding like 'Beater'.

(...Now's the time.)

I collect my thoughts and ideas to counter this situation.

"Beater... That's exactly right! I'm a beater, so please don't get me mixed up with that bunch of noobs! It's rather distasteful to dispute upon yourselves, they're not that much better off than you all you see."

(Time to make my stage exit.)

"Wait!"

Asuna calls out to me.

"...What."

I look down at her.

"I want to talk."

"...Alright."

I walk into the gate with Asuna, to the 2nd Floor's main city, [Urbus].

...

"Phew. So, what did you want, Asuna?"

I throw away my persona I showed in that room.

"Why did you do that?"

"...The beta testers are in no different situation than them. In fact, I would like them to team up with them. That's our best solution to get out of this situation of a -death game-."

Asuna, whose level is just below Klein's (she's level 4) was actually rather amazing. She fought like an experienced rapier user.

"...If anybody asks you to join their guild, don't hesitate. There's a limit to what a solo player can do alone."

I'm praying deep in my heart that she doesn't join [The Army] at the very least. They should be finished with their leader dead.

Narrator: EPIC FORESHADOWINGGG~

...

**Part 2: Kirito's Adventures with Argo**

After we said our goodbyes I disbanded the party. The very next thing I saw was a message from an information broker, Argo the Rat, my only current friend that's NOT a male, apologizing for spilling my info.

'In return, I'll tell you but one piece of information, free of charge!' she wrote.

'Come to the 2nd floor, I just beat the first boss.' I replied.

...

The next thing I saw was a girl with curly chestnut colored hair and whiskers(painted perhaps) chased by two rather large, dark strangers who just got out of the gate to the 2nd floor.

I recognize those special features of Argo, but who are they?

Argo's focus was on the [Agility] stat, so for her to be unable to shake off the chasing two guys, they're not ordinary players. Although I didn't see them among the boss raid, their levels should be top-class (around 10 right now).

In addition, the footprints that went straight along the road toward the west, had exit to the outside through the city gate.

(I'd better follow them before I lose them. Wait for me, Argo!)

The western plains of [Urbus] were dangerous with large buffalo type monsters roaming about, which were dangerous, even the current elite players of the game can't handle them yet. The situation was getting worse. I bite my lips and rush into the virtual savanna without even stopping.

...

The wasteland area beyond this savanna was still quite risky for even my current level (11) to enter alone. But fortunately, the footprints engraved on the thicket were getting more deep (in other words, Argo had already stopped running), from inside the valley between two small rocky mountains, a familiar voice could be heard.

I decide to take a little detour, and climb up higher than their current position about 5 meters higher to listen into their conversation without getting caught.

(Let's see what they're talking about)

"...imes I'll still be saying the same thing! This information, no matter how much you offer, is not for sale!"

That was obviously Argo's voice, but it was more intimidating than the tone we usually converse in. It was then followed by a loud voice of a man.

"You don't want to monopolize it, but also don't want to make it public. Doesn't that mean you want to jack up the price-gozaru?"

...-Gozaru? That's a weird way of speaking in the 21st century.

"It's not a problem about price! I told you that I don't want to be blamed after I sold the information-goza... whoops. Anyways, there's no way I can!"

The voice of the second man then retorted to Argo's words,

"Why would we blame you!? No matter what price you ask, we'd still be expressing our gratitude-gozaru! So just sell us the information about the quest hidden on this floor already! The quest for the [Extra Skill]!"

_…_Huh? [Extra Skill]?

The [Extra Skills] were those that wouldn't appear as choices unless some special conditions were met, another name for them were [Hidden Skills]. The only one I discovered during the beta period was [Meditation], a mental concentration skill (At least the pose looked like so) that increased the rate of HP recovery and increased the probability to recover from negative statuses. However, due to its low efficiency and lame pose, only but few players took it. The other was the [Katana] extra skill, which was used by the Kobold Lord and samurai type monsters on the tenth floor, but I still don't know it's requirements.

Obviously the topic between Argo and the two weird gozaru guys isn't the [Meditation] [Extra Skill], since NPC giving this skill is on the 6th floor. That means the flag quest to unlock an extra skill that I still don't know of (probably all the other beta testers don't know about it as well) is hidden on this 2nd floor, and these gozaru guys are trying to make Argo sell the information — something like that?

After I finish assuming things, the gozaru guy's voice got louder.

"Today, we'll pull it off for sure-gozaru!"

"We'll certainly do anything necessary to get that [Extra Skill]-gozaru!"

"You guys just won't understand! No matter what you say, I'm not selling that information!"

The mood's tension seems to have gotten even higher, so I decide to step in. I jump down 5 meters down, but since my [Agility] stat isn't that high, I would take damage, so I bend my legs on impact to take a defensive stance.

"Hey, you."

"—Who are you-gozaru!?"

"Spy from another clan!?"

Overall looking, it was the so-called [Ninja] appearance, which was originally and somehow reproduced. Seeing these guys like that, I also had a hunch that I may have probably met them during the beta period once or twice.

"Hmm, eeh… you guys are probably, Fu, Fuu…Food, no, Fooga, but that also doesn't sound right…"

I scratch my head to search my memory.

"It's Fūma!"

The left one yells.

"We are Kotarou and Isuke from the guild [Fūmaningun]-gozaru!"

The right one says -gozaru again.

"Oh... OOOHH, them!"

I snapped my fingers as they finally helped me remember who they were. These two were the members of the ridiculously fast ninja guild which was feared during the beta test period. Basically, every member were just like Argo and focused their parameter on [Agility], just like these guys and they would battle as the front line and used their [Agility] as a wall to confuse the enemy, and when it got dangerous they used their dashing speed to flee, forcing the monster to target nearby players instead. Luckily, I never fell victim to this type of misconduct in the beta... or did I?

I start recalling a time a monster launched a surprise attack on me in the 8th floor in the beta.

But I didn't know these guys were still pretending to be ninjas even after SAO official service turned into a death game. However, two vs one, chasing Argo, a female acquaintance, and forcefully getting information from her, was a different story.

I made a gesture for Argo, who was behind me, to step back a bit, and moved my finger to the grip of my beloved [Anneal Blade] [+6] that hung on my back, as I sneered I said:

"As a secret agent of the government, I certainly can't overlook this misdeed of the ninja…"

At that moment—

The fake ninja scowls.

...I think they're enjoying their little ninja roleplaying...

"You bastard, are you from Iga!?" the two ninjas exclaim.

"Haah!?"

I still have no idea what these guys are talking about.

Apparently, the speech which I thought was appropriate to the mood seemed to have pressed their switches. In synchronization, their right hands started to reach for the katanas on their back.

**(But here is the 'Outside' with no Anti-Criminal Code, where Players can attack other players and HP would decrease for real.)**

...Assessing the situation, should I go along with their ninja play?

Just as I was about to unsheathe my sword...

The solution to the situation came from an unexpected source.

"Hey...look behind you."

"Do you think we'll be falling for your petty tricks-gozaru!?"

I sigh.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..."

I jump up to the ledge, pulling Argo's arm with me. Kotarou and Isuke turned their faces around, judging from my actions, they made a slight back step as well. That was because in front of their eyes, a large figure stood in front of them.

The monster's name was [Trembling Ox]. The height to its shoulders would be about two and a half meters, a huge cow type monster, a monster that should be avoided on the 2nd floor. While its toughness and attack power were just as expected from its appearance, what was troublesome was actually its terribly long targeting range and duration, which made it very hard to switch targets mid-fight. Since I had already retreated to the ledge, no doubt that its target would be none other than those guys as I planned.

"Bumoooo—!"

The cow howled.

"Go-gozaruuuuu!"

The 2 ninjas dash away in full speed, along with the cow chasing after them.

...

From the looks of it, the chase would continue until Kotarou and Isuke entered [Urbus].

"Phew."

I somehow avoided a tough battle with those tough super-ninjas.

The [Coat of Midnight] which I equipped on the spot, along with my eyes and hair color, had made my whole body look almost pitch black. I thought it was suitable for a character labeled as a [Beater], but at the same time, I somehow looked ninja-like as well. If the"Kirito is from Iga." rumour is spread out...

I snicker at the thought but...

Again, an unexpected event occurred.

Two small arms from behind embraced me tightly. I could feel a soft and warm sense of touch on my back, along with a faint whisper,

"…You were cool, Kiri-bou."

"..."

I can't help but blush at this situation. But to break the ice, she lets go and tells me that she owes me 2 pieces of information now.

"Two... huh?"

I think about it very carefully.

...Oh!

I get an idea from my curiosity from her appearance and turn around with a grin on my face.

"...I know! Tell me the secret to the reason why you have those whiskers on your face!"

"…Okay, I'll tell you-ru. But you need to wait a bit while I take off the paint…"

She turns her back on me and starts to try rubbing it off.

...Wait.

Paint… she means taking those whiskers off? Does she intend to show me the unpainted face which no one had seen before? Does it have some deep reason?

As my mental burden had increased to the crisis level, Argo exclaimed:

"…On second thought, I'll change the information I'm telling! I'll tell you about the skill hidden on this floor instead!"

Argo turned in front of me, fortunately — should it be said like that? the whiskers still clearly remained on her cheeks.

The Rat, who had completely returned to her usual cheeky expression, said while folding her arms,

"I said I'll tell you any information, so I'll keep my promise. But, Kiri-bou also have to promise me one thing. Regardless of the outcome, **don't blame me**!"

"…Just now, you also said that to those ninja. But, what does that mean? For you to sell the information about the [Extra Skill] that nobody knows about, wouldn't they feel grateful instead of a grudge…?"

To answer my question, Argo shows a broad grin.

"For that information, I'll need to collect the fee, Kiri-bou."

She owed me 2 pieces of information free of charge... but I didn't feel like wasting one so I just told her to forget about it.

She tells me "You might hate me for this so at least promise me"

"Alright. I promise. I swear to the god… no, to the System-sama, that no matter what happens, I won't hold a grudge against you."

What's the worst that could go wrong?

After hearing my oath, Argo gave a nod, Then "follow me," before turning around.

...

After the long journey I felt it would be impossible to travel along without having bought a map beforehand, or having unlimited amounts of curiosity and endurance. (nobody bothered mapping out the whole floor in the beta)

"...Where are we going?"

I question our current path.

"To the NPC that teaches you the [Extra Skill]. We're almost there."

We also went through three battles, but the enemies weren't difficult to me, who was leveling to the limit in order to defeat the first floor's boss. The total time of our traveling was around thirty minutes. To my surprise, she had only run away from the enemies with her [Agility] stat.

Judging by our position on the whole map, we had arrived at a place near the summit of a high towering mountain on the southern edge of the second floor. That place was small and surrounded by cliffs, with a spring and as as a lone tree, also a small hut was built there.

"…Is it here?"

Argo nodded at my unnecessary question before walking to the hut.

There was an NPC inside, along with some furniture. A big middle-aged man with a well built body, his head was bald, and around his mouth was a thick, grey beard. Over his head was a gold-colored [**!**] mark, meaning the quest's starting point.

To my questioning gaze, Argo gave nod.

"This guy is the NPC giving the [Martial Arts] [Extra skill]. The information I can give is up until this point, accepting the quest or not, is Kii-bou's decision."

"…M-Martial arts?"

It was a name of a skill that I had never heard during the beta period.

Argo said 'This is service,' before adding any more information.

I nod.

"[Martial Arts] is a skill that allows attacking with bare hands… that is obvious. It would be effective when the weapon is dropped, or when it's durability is at the limit."

"O-Oh… then it would be useful. Unlike [Meditation]. In that case… I see, so that's why you got stuck with those ninja there…"

To Argo, who made a puzzled face, I also gave a 'This is service,' face before giving the explanation.

"When speaking about ninja, normally you would imagine their weapons to be ninja katana and shuriken, but it's different in games. Removing the head with a single bare hand attack. That has been the highest peak of ninja gaming styles for a long time. So Kotarou and Isuke would want that martial arts skill in order to make their ninja being completed."

As I let out a sigh, I look over the NPC set up in seated meditation over the tatami-mat in the middle of the hut.

"…And, the reason you won't sell is that the one who bought it would hold a grudge against you. But even saying so, don't you already have a lot of enemies due to your business…?"

"People usually forget the grudge from having bought information just after three days! But this is different! Even if it turns out to be lame, you still have to keep it for your whole life…"

Argo begins to shiver.

"?"

(What could be so bad... but first I need to calm her down)

"I already knew I'd need to experience it by myself anyway. So it's fine, I promise. I won't blame Argo."

Besides, Martial Arts is a skill I haven't tried out in the beta!

I then walked into the hut and stood in front of the old man who was sitting in meditation. The old man looked at me before saying,

"Thou wishes to be a disciple?"

"…Yes."

"Even though there be a long and steep road of training?"

"I'm expecting no less."

After the short conversation, the [**!**] above the head of the old man changed into [**?**], the log in my vision tells me that the quest was accepted.

The old man, who became my master, moved outside the hut, toward a huge rock at the edge of the garden, which was surrounded by cliffs. Its height was about two meters, with a diameter of about one and a half meters, the master lightly knocked it and spoke while he was stroking his beard with his left hand,

"Thine training is just one. Splitting this rock using only thy palms. Once thou have succeeded, I shall teach thee all my knowledge."

"Hold on just a moment."

I lightly tap on the huge rock. Since I was accustomed to the game, my sense of touch could tell the target's durability. The hardness sensation that was transmitted to my hand was 'One step short of Immortal Object'.

I judged that it was impossible and turned to the master to cancel the quest. However, before I could do so—

"Until this rock is split, leaving this mountain is forbidden. And thou hast to bear the mark for that reason."

The master who spitted out that line took strange objects from the bosom of his dōgi. On his left hand was a small pot. Then in his right hand was… a thick and elegant — writing brush.

Bad feeling, a word made up in a three-dimensional font floated over my head as the bad feeling pierced through my entire body.

'E-Err, I want to quit!' is what I wanted to say, but the right hand of the master flashed at an amazing speed already splatted black ink on my face.

At that moment, this made me realize the secret behind Argo's whiskers.

That girl had discovered the old man on her own from the early stage of the beta test and had accepted the quest. Upon accepting it, she was told to split the same rock, along with the graffiti written on her face. Those three whiskers on each cheek.

"O-Owaaaa!?"

I raised a pathetic scream as I leaned back, and met with the gaze from Argo who was standing slightly further away. The girl showed sympathy, but at the same time, the expression on her face looked as if she was trying to suppress the urge to burst into laughter.

I hurriedly used both of my hands to wipe my face after the release of the brush attack. However, the ink seemed to be a super-fast drying type, as I couldn't get anything on my hands. The master looked at me like that before nodding, and spitting out the devastating words that I was anticipating,

"That [Mark] cannot be removed until thou hath split this rock and finished the training. I believe in thee, my disciple."

Then, he returned to the hut and disappeared behind the door.

"W-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

I stood still dumbfounded for about ten seconds, then gazed at Argo, who was still wearing that expression, and asked,

"I see… Argo, you accepted this quest during the beta period… and gave up on clearing it, right? That's why you had to continue playing with that drawing on your face until the final day of the test. And as the result, it was the beginning of the [Rat] chara, the information dealer, and for your business in the game's official version, you chose to continue using it with that paint… is that correct?"

I ask this question with my sense of reality still intact.

"Excellent! That's some excellent reasoning! You found out my secret too!"

As she clapped her hands, Argo continued,

"Isn't it great, Kiri-bou! As a result, you gained the information of both 'The reason behind the whiskers' and the [Extra skill]! For your previous service, I'll tell you one more thing. This rock… it's demon! The you right now cannot break this! Try it again and again for days!"

"…I thought as much…"

I bet on a small ray of hope as I asked Argo:

"…Hey. Is the paint on my face similar to your whiskers?"

"Hmm, it's really different~"

"Oh… h-how does it look!?"

Maybe it isn't too noticeable? Or if it's noticeable but is somewhat cool then I still have a choice of returning to my daily life while carrying this mark.

Argo spent three seconds staring at my face with a serious look, because I; who didn't have enough courage to look at my own reflection from the spring before saying,

"Oh that's right. If I can express it in one word… it's a Kirimon."

At that point, seeming as she had reached her limit, Argo fell to the ground, both feet wriggled while she rolled her body about, "Nyahahaha! Nya—hahahahaha!" she continued bursting in laughter uncontrollably.

...Looks like I have no choice but to destroy this rock. I can't go out the city looking like this. No matter what the reason, looking like this will make me a permanently a laughingstock for the rest of the game.

...I don't want to imagine my chances with Asuna going down the drain either.

...

I secluded myself on the mountain for three days, by then, I managed to split the rock after an unbelievable amount of struggle. It was fortunate for her that I had promised not to hold a lifelong grudge against Argo. Luckily nobody came to visit the mountain (It was ridiculously tall)

* * *

Author's note: Yeah, it took a while, but I got lazy and edited a bit from SAO's Light Novel. In case anybody was wondering, 'Kirimon' where 'Kiri' was abbreviated from 'Kirito' where 'mon' was abbreviated by 'monster'. Hope that clears things up. The story changes after Emiya wakes up after all.  
Chapter 8 is on the way.


End file.
